AFC Championship Game- How do you feel now about it?

[Another Fan]

It’s almost 2 months removed at this point.  I think it’s a fair question 

 

It was the most anxious I ever was involving a sporting event.  That whole weekend I was thinking about it.  So part of me was relieved when it was over. But make no mistake I was disappointed as well.  Couldn’t even watch the Super Bowl.

 

At least for me time made it a little easier to get over from my perspective: The Chiefs got smacked in the Super Bowl, realizing as well the Bills probably wouldn’t have won the game if they got in, and Josh winning the MVP made the loss easier to digest.  
 

Im optimistic going forward.  Go Bills 

[Matt_In_NH]

Even though I think he got it (but it was so close you dont want to put it on the zebras) I am still pissed with the decision made to run the tush push on the 4th down  after all the struggles they were having with it up to that point.  I wonder about how that went down....was that just Josh rushing the offense up to the ball, I bet McD was not crazy about it but did not want to burn a TO.  Did Brady say rush up and run it?  I mean they have so many things they can do with Josh when that one play is not working they should have moved off it.

 

And yeah I was thinking the Eagles would be tough to beat all along....they were kind of an afterthought all years.   Lions and Vikings got more attention.  That team's roster is stacked.

Edited 14 hours ago by Matt_In_NH

[BillsFan130]

Still sucks, but...

 

Chiefs getting crushed in the SB, and Josh winning the MVP, was at least a minor consolation prize 

[ProcessTruster]

did not get the breaks that the winner of the tournament typically gets.   

 

another tremendous, successful season full of so many amazing plays, victories and memorable moments

[Another Fan]

5 minutes ago, Matt_In_NH said:

Even though I think he got it (but it was so close you dont want to put it on the zebras) I am still pissed with the decision made to run the tush push on the 4th down  after all the struggles they were having with it up to that point.  I wonder about how that went down....was that just Josh rushing the offense up to the ball, I bet McD was not crazy about it but did not want to burn a TO.  Did Brady say rush up and run it?  I mean they have so many things they can do with Josh when that one play is not working they should have moved off it.

 

And yeah I was thinking the Eagles would be tough to beat all along....they were kind of an afterthought all years.   Lions and Vikings got more attention.  That team's roster is stacked.

I think part of the reason it was easier for me to digest now too is that even neutral observers questioned the refs.  You know not just us biased Bills fans 

[Matt_In_NH]

6 minutes ago, Another Fan said:

I think part of the reason it was easier for me to digest now too is that even neutral observers questioned the refs.  You know not just us biased Bills fans 

For me that does not do much, the result of it being 50/50 was predictable, my issue is with the decision to run that play again.

[Warriorspikes51]

If Benford played entire game, we win by 8 

[SoCal Deek]

I still say Kincaid just had to catch the damn ball. 

[Stuartjohn]

4 minutes ago, SoCal Deek said:

I still say Kincaid just had to catch the damn ball. 

Agreed!! Never Trust Kincaid again!!

Just now, Stuartjohn said:

Agreed!! Never Trust Kincaid again!!

Made me Think if Ronnie Harmon” good to the last drop” that’s Kincaid to me forever!!

[The Cincinnati Kid]

It has been deleted from my memories. I don’t have the bandwidth for heartbreak. I don’t even know any of my ex-girlfriend’s names anymore. 🤷‍♂️ 

[Mister Defense]

The Bills were missing their starting safety at the outset, and  early in the first quarter they lost their best cornerback, one of the best in the league. Two vital players gone on defense, as they played against the two time MVP QB.

 

Yet  they still were beating the chiefs, at their home, late in the first quarter in the championship game.

 

It further exposed the Bills' weaknesses on defense, their lack of high end players in the secondary and their need of a revamped D-Line.  Something we had seen for almost the entire year.

 

It was more evidence to me that the Bills need to get those areas fixed, and not with 'okay band aids', but with as high level players as possible.

 

And it also showed the need for a wideout who could get open consistently down the field, to help them take the next step on offense.

 

It should be pretty clear by the start of the season, or by Halloween?, if the Bills have taken the steps needed to win the next one--and to get that game at home next year.

 

 

 

Edited 13 hours ago by Mister Defense

[uticaclub]

Kansas City being dominated in the Super Bowl highlighted just how much progress we still need to make. I was hoping for significant changes in coaching or the front office, but that didn't occur. The team continues to lack elite talent, and I don't believe that play calling or in-game adjustments will improve.

Edited 13 hours ago by uticaclub

[Royale with Cheese]

I've been through so much heartbreak with the Bills that I'm desensitized now.  I turned off the TV, stared at the black screen for about a minute and got up and went to bed.  Went on my day the next day and didn't watch anything Bills related for a few weeks.  

 

How I feel now is I'm glad we signed a few other defensive assistants.  Our defense has trouble with Mahomes and Burrow in the playoffs and it's because we don't confuse them.  Pass rush can't help if they're getting the ball out in 2 seconds.  Bengals will probably be another fringe playoff team and I think it's almost with certainty we meet the Chiefs in the playoffs again next year.  We have to do something different and get stronger on the DL. 

 

KC didn't have a good offense but Reid knows our defense so well even when they're not that good and we saw that in their scripted plays on the first drive.  They went through us like butter.

 

I feel our first drive of the game was a waste.  We had so much success running the ball with 6 OL.  We ran with Josh and pass, pass.  Not getting Cook involved on the first drive was a mistake. 

 

Kincaid flat out dropped it in a crucial moment and that's a choke.  It's not a difficult catch, it's just a big moment and he failed.  He's not the sure handed guy he was advertised to be.  He has weak hands as in strength...not a good contested catch guy.  He pushed the pile on the QB sneak like he was a Japanese Cop pushing people on the subway.  This is football, get leverage and push like there's gold on the other side.  He's been disappointing to me so far.  

[Dillenger4]

I'm still on the fence. Our D was porous and it doesn't seem like we added studs but we will see. Bosa might turn out to be a factor which would be great.

Beane had me excited until I heard about the PED situation which made me angry with him.

We play sandlot football on offense a lot of the time which will not change as we still have the sandlot gang in Josh/brady/knox/kincaid/shakir. This isn't the worst thing but I would like to see more strategy. Example, tush push. Run Cook/Davis on 1st down. predictable.

I hope we can get a few more defensive players before the draft (CB, DT).

 

My worry is Patriots are getting better. Texans will be healthy. Denver made moves...

[bmur66]

I barely remember the game at this point.

Edited 10 hours ago by bmur66

[finn]

It's always a bummer that ending the season with a loss causes us to focus on the negative, because otherwise there were some terrific plays in that game we'd still be talking about, like Cook's TD and Allen's dime to Hollins and the crazy pass to Kincaid with four rushers immediately in his face. 

 

Anyway, by now my narrative has hardened into two conclusions: 1. Elam coming in for Benford was a disaster, akin to replacing Bernard with A.J. Klein in the playoff game last year; and 2. the Bills got outcoached, again, by KC on both sides of the ball. Brady deserves a lot of heat for stubbornly sticking the tush push after it was obvious KC had prepared for it all week. Even one play action pass on fourth down may have saved the game. And McDermott was exposed, again, as inadequate. He is just not good enough to compete with his top peers, not when it matters most. 

 

What's awful is that replacing McDermott would be extremely risky. It's safer to keep him and what he does well (culture, player development) and build a team strong enough to compensate for his deer-in-the-headlights act in the playoffs. Win despite the head coach, in other words, because you're certainly not going to win because of him. Either that or tell him to step aside in the playoffs and give full control--ALL of it--to his coordinators and game managers. 

 

[DD4Bills]

If I force myself to think about it at all, I am still pissed. Wasted opportunity. The way the Eagles peaked in the playoffs, who knows if the Bills would have beaten them, but they sure as hell would have given them a better game than the Chiefs did.

[Brianmoorman4jesus]

Everytime I think we aren’t the Bills anymore and this team is actually the one to change our lives…watching it live I thought we are the only team in the nfl that can lose because they can’t do a QB sneak. It should have been mind blowing but because of our entire lives, it wasn’t 

[MJS]

I moved on. It is a new season.

[chris heff]

Yes they should have tried something other than the “tush push”, but yes it was a first down and yes the NFL needs to use more technology. Yes Kincaid should have caught that, but it never should have come down to any of that. What the Eagles did to the Chiefs showed how mediocre the Bills defense is. That is the problem. The bend don’t break philosophy doesn’t work, and they are lacking play makers. The Eagles gave the Bills the key to beating the Chiefs. It will be interesting to see if they recognize that and adjust.